Inland Wanderings of the Ancient Murrelet

INLAND WANDERINGS OF THE ANCIENT MURRELET

EDWARD A. MUNYER

HE Ancient Murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus) has been reported T from widely scattered areas of the United States and Canada. In an attempt to understand a recent record of this Pacific alcid in Illinois, I made an intensive search of the literature but found no generally inclusive discussion of these wanderings. This paper, therefore, reviews the inland distribution of Ancient Murrelets in North America, relates the distribution to weather conditions, and presents a hypothesis concerning the direction of inland movements. Normal range.-Ancient Murrelets live along the coasts and offshore islands of the North Pacific from Japan and the western coast of the United States northward. They breed “from the Komandorskie Islands and Kam- chatka to Amurland, Sakhalin, the Kurile Islands, Korea, and Dagelet Island; and from the Aleutian, Sanak, and Kodiak islands to Graham and Langara islands in the Queen Charlotte group, British Columbia; casually to northwestern Washington (Carroll Island) ” (AOU Check-list Committee, 1957). There is apparently only one record of their breeding in northwestern Wash- ington, that reported by Hoffmann (1924). Bent (1919) states that “the fall migration consists of a general offshore movement and a gradual southward drift, off the coast, as far south as southern California. . . . [the birds spending] the winter on the open ocean.” According to the AOU Check-list (1957)) th ey winter “from the Komandorskie Islands south to Fukien, Formosa, and the Ryukyu Islands (Ishigaki) ; and from the Pribilof Islands to northern Baja California (Ensenada).” Many birds remain near their northern breeding areas, the Aleutian Islands (Gabrielson and Lincoln, 1959, and references cited therein). They are frequent during the fall and winter, along the entire coastline of British Columbia, although usually found well out to sea (Brooks and Swarth, 1925) and regularly occur from November to March along the California coast (Grinnell and Miller, 1944). During recent Christmas Bird Counts sponsored by the National Audubon Society (195464) they were observed at Ladner, Victoria, and Vancouver, British Columbia; Orcas and Wasp islands, Seattle, and Sequim, Washington; Oakland, Orange County (coastal), Tomales Bay, Monterey Peninsula, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara, California. Inland records.-The fifth edition of the AOU Check-list (1957) lists the following inland records : “interior British Columbia (Swan Lake, Okanagan) [one record], Oregon (Bend), Nevada (Elko), Idaho (Hayden Lake),

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Edward A. WANDERINGS OF ANCIENT MURRELET Munver 237

FIG. 1. Inland distribution of the Ancient Murrelet in North America. Filled circles represent records discussed in text and listed in Table 1.

Nebraska (Tekamah) , Minnesota (Lake Hook), Wisconsin (Lodi, Lake Koshkonong j [two records?], Ohio (Sandusky Bay), southern Ontario (Toronto, Crystal Beach) [two records] and southern Quebec (Montreal) .” These and 12 other records are shown in Figure 1. Table 1 presents additional information for most of the records plotted. THE WILSON BULLETIN September 1965 238 Vol. 77, No. 3

Weather records.-Knowledge of weather conditions was obtained from (1) the United States Weather Bureaus’ Climatological Data, National Sum- mary (various monthly and annual sections, as cited in text: 1950-64) ; (2) Audubon Field Notes (various issues, as indicated: 194664) ; and (3) literature concerned with specific inland wanderings.

DISCUSSION Effects of weather.-Various authors discuss prevailing weather conditions in attempting to explain individual inland records. Sennett (1884) noted that a bird from Wisconsin was taken “during a northern blizzard‘ -a’ storm so severe that it drove most of the ducks out of the lake.” Gunderson (1951) suggested that a Minnesota record was correlated with a drop in temperature of 45 degrees in less than 24 hours and strong northwest winds. Fog, snow storms (Buss, 1957)) and strong southwesterly winds (Svihla, 1952; Solf and Verner, 1956) were variously related to three records from eastern Washington. Jewett (1951) pointed out that strong winds moved in from the North Pacific for 3 days prior to the finding of an Ancient Murrelet in central Oregon. Gullion (1956) discussed “the first major winter storm” and the collection of a dead bird in Nevada. As Gullion hypothesized, the high winds did apparently carry more than one bird inland: an Ancient Mur- relet, associated with an “unprecedented cold wave” according to Scott (1956)) was captured 2 days earlier in eastern Utah. A bird collected in Colorado may have been influenced by westerly winds which reached velocities of 170 miles per hour at high altitudes (Douglass and Douglass, 1958). Recently, in interior British Columbia, one was taken “following a heavy storm which moved from coast to interior” (C. J. Guiguet, pers. comm., 6 Oct. 1964). During the present investigation, recent records were compared with pertinent weather analyses. Severe wind damage and/or other unusual characteristics, such as fog, made most storm systems associated with western and some central inland wanderings readily identifiable. For example, the storm system bringing birds to Nevada (Gullion, 1956) and Utah (Scott, 1956), during November 1955, also brought the lowest temperatures since 1896 to Oregon and 60 to 80 miles per hour winds to most of the Northwest (U.S. Weather Bureau, November 1955 :Vol. 6). Although inland wandering has been recorded primarily during October and November (Table l), a time when birds are presumably moving southward, it may also start while birds are wintering or returning to the northern breeding areas. Records supporting this are Solf and Verners’ (1956) sight record of a bird in western Washington on 25 March, and a record from western Montana dated 19 March (Rogers, 1964b). The Washington record Edward A. WANDERINGS OF ANCIENT MURRELET Munver 239 may well be related to a severe storm that struck a few weeks earlier. Associ- ated with a deep low-pressure center over the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, this storm moved rapidly eastward across the state, bringing damaging winds of 60 to 90 miles per hour (U.S. Weather Bureau, March 1956:Vol. 7). The Montana record may have resulted from a similar storm recorded by the United States Weather Bureau (March 1964:Vol 15, p. 107) : “By March 11, another storm was intensifying over southern British Columbia, Canada. Winds reached 45 to 55 m.p.h. along our northern Pacific coast.” Correlation of inland records with coastal storms was moderated by a lack of knowledge regarding the Ancient Murrelets’ ability to adapt to fresh- water and/or withstand arid terrestrial conditions. This same question may be similarly considered in relatin, w the inland occurrences of other alcids to their seasonal activities, or specific weather patterns, or both. During November 1950, Ancient Murrelets were collected in Oregon and Minnesota (Jewett, 1951, and Gunderson, 1951, respectively) ; according to Handley (1953)) 4 months later, during March 1951, two were seen (one was collected) on Lake Erie. Although unusual weather conditions are implicated for the November records (by Jewett, 1951, and Gunderson, 1951) and other March records (as discussed elsewhere), I could not find comparable weather patterns for the March record (weather conditions were not discussed in Handleys’ report). Handleys’ birds may have wintered on Lake Erie. A May record from Louisiana and an April record from Montreal also apparently represent birds that were not collected until months after they had wandered inland. A recent Illinois record dated 16 November 1962 (Balding, 1964) may be related to a series of record-breaking storms that struck the Pacific coast during mid-October. According to the United States Weather Bureau (Oct. 1962 :Vol. 13)) the hurricane-force winds striking Oregon at that time brought “one of the major weather catastrophes of the states’ history.” During the latter part of October, according to the same report, “heavy fog was unusually frequent and persistent in the Pacific Northwest.” Either of these, fog or high winds, might force a flock of Ancient Murrelets inland. Adverse coastal weather conditions are clearly involved in inland wanderings of this species. Whether other factors of an intrinsic or biological nature are involved is unknown. Perhaps an occasional Ancient Murrelet is simply blown off course. Probable routes.-In relating an Oregon record to his Nevada record, Gullion (1956) recently suggested that one would expect birds being diverted while on southerly migration to be gradually pushed inland as they moved south rather than to be blown directly east from the northern California THE WILSON BULLETIN September 1965 240 Vol. 77, No. 3 coast. Analyses of various reports and patterns of distribution as shown in Figure 1 indicate that this is indeed the explanation for many records from the western United States. Although the evidence is rather limited, a southeasterly drift may also characterize movements of birds recorded from the eastern half of the continent. This idea is implied in earlier speculations: Sennett (1884) theorized that a bird reached Wisconsin’ in 1882 by way of the Mackenzie River Valley and Canadas’ interior lakes, and Fleming (1912) discussed “Mr. A. C. Bents’ suggestion” that birds reached the Great Lakes area after wandering through the Northwest Passage and into Hudson Bay. Both workers thought that the Rocky Mountains posed too great a barrier, that having passed through the Bering Strait, the birds represented an extended “summer migration,” or lost Arctic Ocean “stragglers.” Records of Ancient Murrelets north of the Bering Strait are apparently not known; but, as shown by more recent inland records, they are able to fly across (or are blown across? ) mountains. Those crossing in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia during October and November, if not actively migrating in a southerly direction would conceivably be forced, because of adverse climatic conditions, to move southward. Noteworthy cold air intrusions preceded the recovery of Ancient Murrelets in Wisconsin (Sennett, 1884) and Min- nesota (Gunderson, 1951). A lack of records from Canadas’ interior and the prevailing pattern of winds across the United States (from west to east) may detract from the hypothesis that eastern birds traveled in a southeasterly direction. But the many lakes in central Canada could afford a safer route and the westerly winds during a period of active southerly migration would presumably force a wanderer to- ward the southeast. Although some records occurring during the same season form a nearly straight line extending from west to east (such as Oregon, 1950; Minnesota, 1950; and Lake Erie, 1951-see Fig I), storm activity along the Pacific coastal regions has driven wintering or migrating Ancient Mur- relets inland at different points; a record from the Yukon Territory and one from eastern Washington are dated the same month of the same year (Table I). SUMMARY

Published inland records of the Ancient Mm-relet in North America are reviewed and their relation to weather conditions discussed. Most of the records are directly or in- directly associated with weather disturbances over the Pacific coast. About two-thirds of the records are dated November or late October, presumably months of great migratory activity. Although positive evidence is scanty, a southeasterly drift rather than a direct west-to-east movement is indicated for both western and eastern records and the birds are apparently able to survive for considerable periods on freshwaters. Edward A. WANDERINGS OF ANCIENT MURRELET hfunyer

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For information about certain records, I am grateful to the following: Dr. C. J. Guiguet, Provincial Museum at Victoria, British Columbia; Dr. Owen J. Gromme, Milwaukee Public Museum; Dr. J. Douglas Heyland and Raymond Cayouette, Quebec Wildlife Service and Zoological Gardens, respectively; Dr. Harvey L. Gunderson, University of Nebraska; and Dr. Robert J. Newman, Louisiana State University. For reviewing this manuscript, appreciation is also extended to Dr. Paul W. Parmalee, Milton D. Thompson, and Orvetta M. Robinson, Illinois State Museum. Advice and criticisms offered by Dr. Parmalee were especially valuable.

LITERATURE CITED

AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS ’ UNION CHECK-LIST COMMITTEE 1957 Check-list of North American birds. 5th ed., Lord Baltimore Press, Baltimore, Maryland. BALDING,T. 1964 Ancient Murrelet taken in Illinois. Auk, 81:443. BENT, A. C. 1919 Life histories of North American diving birds. U.S. Natl. MU. Bull., NO. 107: esp. 132-141. BROOKS,A., AND H. S. SWARTH 1925 A distributional list of the birds of British Columbia, Pacijic Coast Avifauna, No. 17. Buss, I. 0. 1957 Ancient Murrelet captured in southeastern Washington. Condor, 59:142-143. DOUGLASS,J. R., AND M. M. DOUGLASS 1958 First Ancient Murrelet collected in Colorado. Auk, 75:216. FLEMING, J. H. 1912 The Ancient Murrelet (Synthlibornmphus antiquus) in Ontario. Auk, 29:387- 388. GABRIELSON,I. N., AND F. C. LINCOLN 1959 The birds of Alaska. The Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the Wildlife Management Institute, Washington, D.C. GRINNELL, J., AND A. H. MILLER 1944 The distribution of the birds of California. Pacific Coast Avifauna, NO. 27. GULLION, G. W. 1956 An Ancient Murrelet in northeastern Nevada. Condor, 58:163. GUNDERSON,H. L. 1951 Western Great Lakes region. Audubon Field Notes, 5:16-18. HANDLEY, D. 1953 Ancient Murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus) taken in Erie County, Ohio. Auk, 70 :2Of-207. HEDGES,C. F. 1941 Ancient Murrelet in northern Idaho. Condor, 43:248. HOFFMANN, R. 1924 Breeding of the Ancient Murrelet in Washington. Condor, 26:191. JEWETT, S. G. 1951 An Ancient Murrelet goes inland. Condor, 53:301. THE WILSON BULLETIN September 1965 Vol. 77, NO. 3

LEWIS, H. F. 1923 Occurrence of Synthliboramphus antiquus in the Province of Quebec. Canadian Field-Nat., 37:118-119. LOWERY, G. H. 1960 Louisiana birds. 2nd ed., Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge. LUPIENT, M. 1962 Western Great Lakes region. Audubon Field Notes, 16:331&332. MUNRO, J. A., AND I. McT. COWAN 1947 A review of the bird fauna of British Columbia. Special Publ. No. 2, British Columbia Prov. Mus. NATIONAL AUDUBONSOCIETY 195464 Christmas Bird Count. Audubon Field Notes (April issues), Volumes 8-18. NEWMAN, R. J. 1954 Central Southern region. Audubon Field Notes, 8:316-319. ROBERTS,T. S. 1932 The birds of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis (Vol. 1). ROGERS,T. H. 1964a Northern Rocky Mountain-Intermountain region. Audubon Field Notes, 18: 57-60. 19643 Northern Rocky Mountain-Intermountain region. Audubon Field Notes, 18: 472474. SCOTT, 0. K. 1956 Great Basin, Central Rocky Mountain region. Audubon Field Notes, 10:43-44. SENNETT, G. B. 1884 Black-throated Auk (Synthliboramphus antiquus) in Wisconsin. Auk, 1:98- 100. SOLF, J. D., AND J. VERNER 1956 Sight record of the Ancient Murrelet in southeastern Washington. il/lurrrelet, 37 :25-26. SOPER,J. D. 1954 Waterfowl and other ornithological investigations in Yukon Territory, Canada, 1950. WiZdZ. Mgmt. Bull., Series 2, No. 7. Canadian Wildlife Serv. SVIHLA, A. 1952 The Ancient Murrelet at Mabton, Washington. Murrelet, 33:12. SWENK, M. H. 1933 The Ancient Murrelet wanders to Nebraska. Nebraska Bird Review, 1:14. UNITED STATESWEATHER BUREAU 1950-64 Climatological Data, National Summary. (various monthly and annual sections). U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington. Volumes 1-15. WOODBURY, A. M., C. COTTAM, AND J. W. SUCDEN 1949 Annotated check-list of the birds of Utah. Bull. Univ. of Utah, 39 (16), Biol. Ser., 21, No. 2.

ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, 12 NOVEMBER 1964